Left to right from top: Staff Sgt. Varlee Talawally, a water treatment noncommissioned officer with 548th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade, and Pfc. David Brown, a water treatment specialist with 548th DSSB, set up a water pump near a water source Aug. 17 during Tactical Water Purification System training on Fort Drum, New York. Cpl. Carmelo Rodriguez, a water treatment specialist with 548th DSSB, instructs Soldiers of 277th Aviation Support Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, on how to use the system. Sgt. Dylan Tripoli, assigned to 548th DSSB, conducts a test on the water. A 277th ASB Soldier tests the water during training. Lt. Col. Joshua Hayward, 277th ASB commander, gets a cup of purified water during the training. Rodriguez holds a bottle of unpurified water and a bottle of purified water during Tactical Water Purification System training on Fort Drum. (U.S. Army Photos by Sgt. 1st Class Neysa Canfield, 10th MDSB Public Affairs Office)
10th Mountain Division sustainment, aviation
Soldiers partner for water purification training
Sgt. 1st Class Neysa Canfield
10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office
FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Aug. 17, 2023) – Soldiers from A Company, 548th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade, and A Company, 277th Aviation Support Battalion, 10th Combat Aviation Brigade tested their skills to supply purified water Aug. 17 during Tactical Water Purification System training.
“My younger Soldiers haven’t been able to get hands-on training with the TWPS since graduating from (Advanced Individual Training),” said 2nd Lt. Madison Gray, distribution platoon leader for A Company, 277th ASB. “We coordinated with the sustainment brigade to get some training and to make sure our Soldiers are ready and prepared for upcoming missions.”
The TWPS can provide up to 1,500 gallons of purified water per hour and “is intended to supply potable water to ground, amphibious and air-mobile units,” according to the system’s Army Technical Manual.
But, according to Staff Sgt. Varlee Talawally, a water treatment noncommissioned officer with A Company, 548th DSSB, there are several steps between pulling water from a source to purifying it to consume safely.
“You have to practice with the system as much as possible because it’s easy to forget,” he explained. “There are a lot of sequences that happen for the TWPS to run properly, and as the (subject-matter experts), we need to make sure it is done to standard.”
Talawally, who has been in the U.S. Army for eight years as a water treatment specialist, added that he enjoys teaching young Soldiers how to operate the TWPS.
“These Soldiers are the future of the Army, so the better we train them to be professionals and experts in their jobs, the better we can accomplish future missions,” he said. “As NCOs, it's our duty to make sure Soldiers are trained.”
This type of passion and knowledge of their job is what Gray was hoping for when she reached out to the water platoon of 548th DSSB.
“Water is Class I supply, and if you don’t have water, it can be detrimental to the success of Soldiers and the mission,” Gray said. “So, I’m very appreciative to the (sustainment brigade) for letting my Soldiers come out and learn alongside them and getting to run the TWPS firsthand.”